Republican Wars: Death of Peace (Redux)
by Empire of Silverstein
Summary: When a peaceful world is thrown into chaos, humble heroes must take a stand. Ash Ketchum is tossed into the most difficult and alarming challenge of his life as he aids in the struggle to bring two global superpowers back from the brink of large-scale war. With only his trusty pokemon and a few close friends, he'll encounter a quirky commando team, a Ribbon, and an old rival.


**Skies of Deception**

* * *

**I'm back. **

**It's time to rewrite this bi*yay*ch.**

**For all of those enjoyed my original version of this story, I'd like to welcome you back and I hope you will like this one as well. **

**Also, I'd like to point out that I tweaked a couple things. Just so it makes a little more sense now. **

**Enough stalling.**

**Let's get combat ready.**

* * *

A Yuktorussian radar operator squinted at his screen, hoping his exhausted eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Sir!" he called out, adjusting his headphones.

A Yuktorussian colonel approached the young lieutenant's workstation with an expression of obvious irritation on his face.

"What is it, Lieutenant? It's three in the morning and I'd like to go home soon. Can't it wait until next shift?"

"Sir, the array just picked up some strange signatures off the east coast," the worried operator explained.

The colonel's annoyance appeared to grow as he brusquely shoved his face towards the monitor. There were twenty-four blips constantly blinking in and out from the scanner.

"Flying pokemon. Nothing more," the higher-ranking officer concluded dismissively.

"With all due respect sir, these signatures are way too hot to be just pokemon."

"Are you lecturing me, _lieutenant_?" he spat back, his drowsiness exacerbating his fraying temper.

"It's flying Charizard. Simple as that."

"But they're flying in an aggressive stance formation and-"

"Winged pokemon fly in formation all the time. How is this any different?"

"They are reaching speeds that normal flying pokemon cannot-"

"I call bullshit. Flying pokemon can soar a lot faster than you think."

The lieutenant was saved from thinking of another excuse as another operator called the colonel from the other side of the room.

The commanding officer stomped over to the opposing console.

"This better be good. Our shift ends in fifteen minutes," he grumbled, longing for his bed back home.

The next operator looked distinctly nervous.

"Sir… I picked up a radar lock on our each of our sensor arrays off the coast of Volna City. It… it looks like our arrays are being… painted?"

The colonel, interest now taking hold of his complexion, turned back to the first operator.

"What is the location of the bogeys your scanner picked up?"

"About 3 miles off Volna Beach, sir."

"Impossible. If these were legit bogeys, how come we haven't picked them up already?"

"Stealth aircraft?"

"No stealth aircraft is _that _slippery!" he snapped.

"Contact Naval Command, YKGB, and any other intelligence agency you can get! I want to know why they haven't picked this up yet!"

The commander seemed even more frustrated now as a couple personnel started to make urgent phone calls, attempting to contact Yuktorussian Naval Command. He picked up a phone himself and keyed in a number. Unlike his subordinates, he received an immediate response.

"Vice Admiral Avandeyev."

"Sir, this is Colonel Balashov, East Coast Radar Defense Network. We have picked up twenty-four unidentified bogeys on radar and they appear to be tagging our array installations. Can you confirm?"

There was a short pause.

"Negative. We've got nothing here. It's been a quiet night."

_"This makes no sense!" _the colonel thought.

Suddenly, the screens in the room began to behave erratically, static bursting into the view for one moment and showing a garbled mess of data the next. Some of the scanners even shut down as their operators began to protest in confusion.

"Our systems are bugging out! The hell's going on?" one operator panicked as he started to tap his keyboard wildly.

"What _now_?!" the colonel yelled in frustration, covering up the phone with a hand.

"Sir, I believe that the bogeys have opened fire and have stricken our radar arrays with anti-radiation missiles!" a female operator reported urgently from across the room.

"WHAT?!"

"They've been destroyed by HARM missiles," she continued.

"We're losing detection abilities as we speak. RDN has suffered significant damage and our national air defenses are being compromised in the southeastern sector of Yuktorussia."

The colonel was speechless. This couldn't have been happening!

"Impossible! Are there not other radar sites that survived?"

"A few, sir… but we're losing more and more of them by the second. At this rate, we'll lose about eighty-five percent of our detection capabilities in the next twenty minutes."

"What about our air defense matrix?"

"I - I don't know, sir! Usually we can handle most jamming signals thrown at our equipment but this is unlike anything we've ever seen! These ones are confusing our SAMs' detection capabilities-"

"The short version, please!" the commanding officer snapped.

"Our SAM missile defense system could be down for thirty minutes or longer, depending on how fast those intel guys can snuff out that electromagnetic signal and stop it before it causes more damage."

"NOTHING takes thirty minutes!"

All this was happening much too fast and none of it made sense. How was this enemy able to penetrate one of the best national defense systems in the world without breaking a sweat? How could an attack be this well synchronized and coordinated and STILL be able to evade detection? What on Earth was their objective?

_"Whoever these guys are, they're not screwing around," _the Yuke colonel thought with dread.

"That's it! Contact Gleipnir! The Top Brass need to be notified," the colonel urged violently, disbelief still scrambling his brain.

Mustering whatever composure he had left, he politely ended the conversation with the Vice Admiral and redialed Gleipnir.

"This is Gleipnir, Yuktorussian Supreme Defense Headquarters."

"Sir, this is Colonel Balashov, of the East Coast Radar Defense Network! We are currently losing radar sites to enemy HARM munitions! Awaiting directive!"

"Calm down. We've already detected the anomaly from the signatures we've gathered in the area-"

"ANOMALY?! We are under attack sir!" the colonel cried into the phone desperately.

The voice that came through the phone had gone icy.

"Take a deep breath, _colonel_. We've already launched interceptors. Await further instructions."

* * *

"This is Ivysaur Squadron. Moving to intercept," the leader of a formation of eight MIG-29 fighter jets reported.

"Okay Ivysaur 1, according to our remaining radar sites and our own sensors, you are directly in the path of the twelve bogeys," an AWACS operator spoke.

"Twelve?"

"Yes, it appears that a dozen of them split off after destroying our radar sites. Must've been their HARM team."

"If they already destroyed the radar sites, why are these twelve still coming? And why aren't our air defenses activated?"

"Well, we are guessing that these were the escort fighters. Just mop them up and return to base. As for our SAM and AA cannon systems, they are all radar-guided, so they probably won't do you very much good. Unless you want to get shot down by friendly air defense systems." There was a short pause, followed by a disbelieving exclamation of,

"What the hell…?"

"What is it?" the Ivysaur leader inquired, slight panic audible in his voice.

"Four new bogeys have appeared behind the original twelve. These ones are slower, and the original twelve appear to be protecting them. Find out what's going on, captain!" the AWACS speaker ordered.

"Roger! Ivysaur Squadron check left!" the leader ordered as all eight MIG fighters banked hard to left and turned to engage the unknown aircraft.

"Ivysaur 1, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 2, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 3, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 4, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 5, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 6, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 7, engaging,"

"Ivysaur 8, engaging,"

"Everyone lock on to a bandit!" Ivysaur 1 ordered.

The MIGS were approaching the bogeys head-on, afterburners sizzling and roaring. Ivysaur 1's targeting system began to beep wildly.

"I've got tone! Ivysaur 1, Fox Three!" he announced as he pressed his thumb down on the red button ontop of his control stick.

"Fox three!" each squadron member echoed as they fired their own missiles.

"Haha! I got one!" Ivysaur 3 cheered happily.

"Splash two!" another Ivysaur member announced.

Ivysaur 1 watched as two of the enemy blips disappeared on his radar.

A radar-guided missile dropped from his left wing and sped towards the enemy formation, leaving a trail of white smoke in its wake. The entire opposing formation split-off in different directions to dodge the missile while simultaneously dispersing chaff. The missile lost its lock and detonated where the enemy formation used to be.

"Dammit! Missile shot trashed!" Ivysaur 1 growled in frustration.

The unknown aircraft took this opportunity to flank the MIGs and began to attack them from both sides. A missile alert popped up on his HUD so he jerked hard right and dumped flares. Suddenly, he heard a deafening explosion rock the skies.

"Ivysaur 3's been shot down!"

"Bandits in gun range."

Ivysaur 1 spotted the enemy fighter that was recovering from his attack on Ivysaur 3. He soon recognized the fighter as he started to chase it down.

"_An SU-47 huh? A pretty-looking black one too," _he thought idly as he received a lock.

"Fox three! Fox two!" he declared as he fired two missiles at the Sukhoi.

The SU desperately tried to swerve and dump chaff to dodge them and managed to shake the first one. However, the second missile blew off the SU's left wing, and the aircraft started spiraling out of control. Smoke and fire spilled out of the aircraft as it crashed into the earth below.

"_What? No ejection? This must be a really covert op if they'd rather die than risk getting captured." _

He looked to his left and watched as Ivysaur 6's jet exploded as it was hit by a missile head-on. This was starting to look bad. Especially since it would be at least a half-hour before a reinforcement squadron would arrive.

"Help me! I can't-" Ivysaur 4 was cut off as his MIG took a missile from behind.

"I can't shake him! Get him off me!"

"This is Ivysaur 5; he's in my sights. Good tone! I've got good tone!"

"This Ivysaur 8, I've been hit… dammit! The eject handle's stuck!"

"Alright, I'm gonna cut this one off by rolling in on the left…" Ivysaur 7 announced. There was a gasp.

"GAH! I've been hit! Where did that second forty-seven come from!?"

"Ivysaur 7's been shot down!"

"This is Ivysaur 5! I bagged one!"

"This is Ivysaur 2! Requesting assistance! I've got two bandits on my six! They're spiking me!"

The squadron leader listened to the chaos of his squadron falling apart. He locked on to another SU and shot it down after expending two more missiles. He checked his armament and saw that he only had one more left. He slipped in behind the two SUs that were torturing Ivysaur 2 and fired his last missile and simultaneously zeroed in on the other fighter with his targeting reticle and started pelting the superiority fighter with mini-cannon rounds.

Both SUs exploded at the same time and then Ivysaur 1 realized that his own plane was being hit with enemy cannon rounds.

"Thanks Ivysaur 1! I thought I was a goner for a secon-"

The pilot's young voice was cut off as his jet erupted in a fireball when a missile hit it from the front. Ivysaur 1 also managed to hear Ivysaur 5's deep-throated scream as his MIG caught fire and slammed onto the ground violently. The squadron leader was now frustrated and saddened beyond compare.

All of his comrades were dead.

It just wasn't fair.

Him and his severely damaged MIG, against the five remaining SUs.

Unlike his flight mates, at least he had a chance to punch out.

And the Yuktorussian Ribbon Fighter did.

* * *

The young field commander watched from the door of his stealth chopper as he saw the last Yuktorussian fighter pilot eject from his burning MIG. He saw the emblem on one of the tail fins of the downed MIG-29 and saw the image of a growling Ivysaur entwined with a sky blue ribbon that was shaped in a crazy eight pattern.

"_Hmm…no wonder why they lost. We send fighter jets, they send ribbons! HAH!" _He gave a self-satisfied smirk.

"_...I prefer roses anyway,"_ he thought smugly.

The operatives inside of the four stealth choppers would be landing soon. He noticed that the five remaining SU-47's were now just flying escort for the stealth choppers as they neared their objective.

All of the Special Forces units were donned in a tan, desert camo pattern and Kevlar helmets. A silver metal star was on the front of each helmet. With their bell-shaped helmets, their weapons chosen, and their uniforms, they had the appearance of Karalian military personnel.

He nervously tapped the five pokeballs at his belt. After years of training as a small child, this would be his first taste of combat. He glanced at his fellow operatives, who were all preparing to deploy by either checking their weapons and pokeballs, or doing what they could to stay calm and collected.

The Commander slapped down the catch of his suppressed MP5 submachine gun as the nuclear facility came into view. He watched as employees and guardsmen scrambled to either defensive or sheltering positions. As the choppers approached, he could make up what looked like heavy machinegun positions attempting to take potshots at the stealth choppers, but were obviously aiming blind as the tracer rounds were flying in every direction but theirs.

_"Hehe, they can't see us. Just like he said," _the leader thought as he mentally chuckled at the helplessness of the enemy.

Three SUs flipped out of the formation and hit their afterburners towards the site. The SUs began to fire missiles and cannon rounds into the site, causing small balls of fire from the defensive positions. Eerily, all the machinegun fire stopped abruptly after the strike.

"TWO MINUTES!" the pilot roared from the cockpit.

"TWO MINUTES!" the commander repeated to his men in a commanding but distinctly youthful voice.

"When we drop, release one pokemon each! Preferably a fire, ground, or steel type if you have them! Use them to destroy the barbed wire fences and any other obstacles that may have been set up! When you choose your pokemon, it would be wise to use a bullet-resistant one! Use them for cover!"

He briefly paused to exhale, his breath visible in the winter air.

"Once that is done, you will split into your respective fifteen man assault teams. Our two teams will land near the front entrance while the other two will slip in through the rear of the facility."

Two troopers looked at each other as a third standing behind them adjusted his night-vision goggles.

"Each chopper is holding fifteen of us so don't get separated from me. You know who you are. Remember which team you're attached to and when to drop. Remember to speak English. We can't let the Yukes know that we were responsible. Today, we show these Yuke pigs the error of their ways!"

He raised his fist into the air.

"Glory to the Republic!"

Every one of the operatives in the chopper was listening to a commander half their age. But they didn't care. After many years of resentment and planning, their revenge was finally within their grasp.

"The Republic is our savior!" they all chanted briefly before they dropped.

The copter's side-doors slid open as ropes dropped from them, hitting the snow-covered ground below with a thud. The two choppers that were flying stationary were dropping their human cargo right outside the front gate. The others flew over them and headed for the facility's rear.

The young commander repelled out of the chopper and got to work right when his boots crunched onto the snow.

He selected a pokeball from his belt and chucked it at the ground, causing an audible pop.A white flash emanated from the ball, and released a Flygon.

"Flygon! Use flamethrower on that fence!" he shouted as small arms fire directed at them started to erupt from the facility.

The dragon pokemon seared through the barrier with hot flames as the commander charged through the hole in the fence that his pokemon created. His teammates followed behind him and once they crossed the fence into the facility, they unleashed their own pokemon.

The recognizable popping of pokeballs could be heard as the Rycinian Special Forces operatives let out their bloodthirsty pocket monsters.

An Onix emerged from one and rammed into one of the buildings. A Yuke guard saw him, and tried to lift his rifle to fire but was knocked off the balcony by a Fearow's Aerial Ace. As he hit the ground, he was met by submachine gun rounds, courtesy of the commander. A Typhlosion released a devastating fire blast that roasted a retreating group of civilian employees.

Gunfire erupted and the popping of pokeballs continued as some of the guards began releasing their own pokemon. Pokemon began fighting one on one as their trainers exchanged gunfire. A Vaporeon jumped into the middle of the fight and fired a Hydro Pump. Some of the intruders took cover behind walls and barrels, but one was blasted off his feet and knocked backward several yards as he took the attack head-on.

A Mankey and a Machop were on a balcony above where the commander stood, dancing a very dangerous and if one made a wrong move, fatal dance. They were throwing punches, kicks, and parrying attacks. The commander couldn't tell which one was a Yuke pokemon or part of his team.

So he sprayed both of them at full-auto and a few whimpers were heard as both pokemon dropped dead, their bodies clanging onto the metal walkway.

"Pop 'em!" he called out using a Karalian codephrase.

Seeing that many Yuktorussians had English and Russian as primary languages, it was necessary to use the code.

At that command several intruders lowered their rifles and pulled grenades out of their pockets. They simultaneously yanked off all the pins and tossed them at enemy guards that had taken cover across from them. The portable bombs exploded, sending shrapnel and even pokemon, flying through the air.

As the screams of agony from both humans and pokemon began, the Rycinians rushed the enemy's defensive positions with almost zero casualties. Automatic fire continued to erupt across the entire facility.

The commander entered a control building that ultimately led to the silos. He saw a civilian run for shelter across the first floor. He lifted his submachine gun and mowed her down with one quick burst and a bored expression. As he entered the facility, one of the Rycinian squads followed him in.

With a Blastoise taking point and weapons drawn they systematically went down a hallway and cleaned out every room in their path, killing anyone they found whether it'd be soldier, civilian or pokemon. Other Rycinian teams that had broken through the Yuke defenses were also completing this task in other hallways of the main control building.

They found it.

The hub that controlled all of the silos.

As they burst open the doors, a couple of technicians threw their hands and started begging.

"Do you know any of the codes?" the commander asked them coldly.

"No! But please, we'll do anythi-"

"Wrong answer."

The Rycinian commander shot the speaker while another Rycinian shot the other with an assault rifle.

"Grabacr seven, codes please," the commander asked in a tone he might use to order a meal at a restaurant.

"Roger," the hacker replied as he and a few of his underlings that survived the breach cracked open laptops and began to rapid-fire type.

"Vaskot eight, you and your team start fucking with the control systems. Preferably the intrusion system and fail-safes," the commander ordered.

"Yes, sir," the soldier replied crisply.

At an unspoken command, he and three others smoothly yanked a piece of some machine from their packs and assembled it into one carefully depositing it on the floor and activated it. The device, resembling a radio antenna, started to tamper with the silos' defensive counter-measures and disrupted them, giving the hackers the opening they needed.

"We've got the codes! We're in!" a hacker cried out.

"How many were we able to get before the automatic defenses reactivated?" the commander asked, knowing that the Yuke cyber-defenses could only be subdued for a certain amount of time, not completely destroyed.

"Seven warheads, sir," came the answer.

"Well, we only have twenty minutes before Yuke reinforcements arrive, so let's do this quickly," the commander urged.

"Targets are as follows - Goldenrod City, Twinleaf Town, Rustboro City, Vermilion City, Celestic Town, Fallarbor Town…" The commander smiled grimly. "… and Pallet Town," he finished.

"Understood."

There were a few moments of more frantic typing as the hackers inputted their respective coordinates.

"Okay, we're good to go. Fire when ready, sir."

The commander contemptuously swiped a key from a dead technician's belt and promptly inserted it into its slot on the console. He turned the key and a red light with a plastic covering blinked on. Since, the control system had the proper codes and clearance inserted, he was able to do this without the system automatically locking the key ports. The commander lifted the covering and hit the button. A rumbling ensued as the loud thundering announced that a missile has left its silo.

The commander quickly repeated this task with the other six silos that had been successfully hacked.

"Alright, we're done! Let's go!" the commander said as his team packed up their equipment and departed the control center.

As planned, all of their stealth choppers were awaiting them at the rendezvous point.

The commander noticed the other teams scrambling back to the helicopters after disengaging with the facility's guard units. The SU flight covered their escape with a well-timed air strike, using only their cannons. As he boarded the chopper, he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

"_The Yuke air defenses are far too hindered to shoot down the warheads and their fighters are either too late or focused on us. Perfect," _he thought with an arrogant air of confidence as the helicopters blades churned, lifting into the air.

_"Though the target country still has its own defenses available… I guess I can settle for _almost_ perfect! Even if they don't hit, they're still guaranteed to cause a massive uproar."_

The helicopters sped away towards the ocean as they departed the Carisgold Nuclear Facility. After almost twenty minutes of flying they had already reached the coast and were flying out into open sea. The five SU's, now nearly drained of ammunition, split off the engage an incoming group of Yuke fighters for the last time. They did this to give the stealth choppers a chance to get out of range and escape by stalling the enemy formation.

The pilot of the lead stealth chopper opened the channel to the other helicopters.

"We shall never forget their sacrifice today. We are almost out of Yuktorussian naval anti-air range – let us re-stealth so we can slip by any Aegis ships and carrier jets we run into. Head east, fly south over the ocean and then west again to return to Rycinia."

The pilots all gave their acknowledgement, and the last sign of disturbance above the ocean that day was four pitch-black helicopters fading into nothing more than a barely-discernible haze in the night sky.

It was time to return home, to watch the spawn of their deeds.

* * *

**Afterthought**

**Bonus points to anyone who can pick out any foreshadowing here. Don't cheat previous readers!**

**Also, a special thanks to my Beta readers out there!**

**Geckoguy555 and Grammaguy**


End file.
